Advanced
Dark matter from a flat rotation curve
A spiral galaxy has a flat rotation curve with km/s out to kpc. (a) Find the enclosed mass. (b) The luminous mass is . What mass-to-light discrepancy does this imply, and what does it tell you about the density profile of the missing matter?
Saved in this browser only, no account needed.
Reading resources
Material that covers the physics behind this problem.
- An Introduction to Modern AstrophysicsCarroll & Ostlie
The standard reference for olympiad-level astrophysics. Chapters 1-3 cover the celestial sphere, orbits and the magnitude system.
Textbook - Ohio State Astronomy Lecture NotesOhio State University
Clear university-level notes on stars, galaxies and cosmology with derivations you can follow line by line.
Lecture notes - Crash Course AstronomyPhil Plait
46 short episodes. Useful for building intuition quickly before diving into the maths.
Video